mcchesney



(No Model.) 4 v M. H. McOHESNEY & J. G. KUNZE.

PIANO.

Mmmuhuuu IHIHHIIIIHH III! UNITED STATES MARTIN H. MCCHESNEY AND JOSEPH G. KUNZE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS PATENT OFFICE.

ASSIGNORS TO GEORGE P. BENT, OF SAME PLACE.

PIANO.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent NO. 533,661, dated February 5, 1895.

Application filed October 22, 1 89.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be itknown that we, MARTIN H. MCCHES- NEYand JOSEPH G. KUNZE, citizens of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Pianos, which is fully set forth in the following specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 represents a front elevation of our piano, with a portion of the front cut away, showing our invention attached. Fig. 2 is a vertical, central view, taken at the line 22, Fig. 1, looking to the right. Fig. 3 is a horizontal view, taken at the line 8-3 Fig. 2, looking down, showing our improvements detached. Fig. 4 is an elevation, taken at the line 4-4, Fig. 2, looking to the right. Fig. 5 isa perspective view of the two bracket pieces supporting the hammer arrester slide-bar. Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the slide-bar, detached. Fig. 7 is a perspective view of a rock-shaft having a single crank at one end, and a double crank at the other end, and showing a portion of the treadle rod and a spring. Fig. 8 is a detail view of the tongues.

Our invention relates to improvements in the piano shown and described in our application for a patent, Serial No. 511,147, filed May 14, 1894:.

In the accompanying drawings, A represents the frame of an upright piano which is made in the usual manner.

B, represents the strings; D, the hammers E, one of the several standards usedin upright pianos.

F, is an adjustable tongue-bar from which the tongues G and II are suspended.

I and J are bracket-irons secured to the standards E of the piano by means of a setscrew, L. These bracket-irons have slots in them by which they are adjustable vertically. The bracket formed by the bracket-irons I and J when attached to the standards, project into a recess, M, made in the standards and carry the slide-bar, N, as clearly shown in Fig. 2. There are diagonal slots 0 in this slide-bar N through which the vertical flange or pin, P, rigidly connected with the bracketiron 1, passes, to cause the slide-bar to move Serial 110,526,633. (No model.)

forward and backward in front of the hammer, and at the same time hold it rigidly at any desired position to arrest the hammer in its stroke. The slide-bar is caused to slidehorizontally by means of a bell-crank lever, Q, which is operated by the pedal-rod, B. One arm of the bell-crank Q is forked or slotted at S, and there is a pin, T, which rests in this slot and passes into the slide-bar so that when the bell crank lever is vibrated, the slide-bar is moved horizontally, and at the same time the pins or upturned flanges P sliding in the slots 0 advance or retract the slide-bar toward or from the hammers, so as to arrest them at any desired point in their stroke and at the same time hold the slidebar firmly and rigidly in any desired place. This method of supporting and controlling the movement of the slide-bar which serves as a hammer-arrest, overcomes any tendency of the hammer-arrest to yield or vibrate as when hung on hinges or swinging on a pivot at each end, as shown in our previous application for a patent above referred to.

The flexible tongues which we suspend from the adjustable tongue-bar, F, we make of a flexible material preferably of leather, and we find that instead of attaching to their lower ends on either side of them a metal striker, as shown in our previous application, it is preferable to fold the lower end of the flexible tongue around the metal striker, as clearly shown in Fig. 8, thereby securing the metal striker within the fold of the flexible tongue. \Ve also find that it is desirable to make the strikers large that strike what are termed the bass strings of the piano, and that if they are made solid they are too heavy. We therefore make them out of short sections of metal tubes, as shown in the tongue H in Fig. 8, for the purpose of making them light and at the same time larger in diameter.

In all other respects than as above described, we construct our piano as shown and fully described in our previous application above referred to, with the exception that we make our rock-shaft, V, at the base of the piano with a single crank at one end and av double crank at the other end, as clearlyshown in Fig.7; it being connected to the pedal-bar X by the rod X. The rock-shaft is held in its normal position by the spring, a,which has one end attached to the frame of the piano, as clearly shown in Fig. 2.

With a piano constructed as above described, we are able to produce the tones of several different instruments. If we raise the tongues above the paths of the hammers, and withdraw the hammer arrest so as not to be touched by the hammers, or the hammer stems, we have the full and usual tone produced by pianos. By lowering the tongues so as to be struck by the hammers and carried against the springs of the piano, a differenttoneis produced. Byadvancingthehamiuer-arrest so that the hammers strike the tongues and do not follow the tongues, but simply swing them against the strings, still another tone is produced. Other tones still are produced by raising or lowering the tongues at different heights in front of the hammers so as to be struck by the hammer at different points on the tongue; also by raising the tongues above the paths of the hammers and advancing the hammer arrest to its forward point, there is no tone produced, and the piano becomes a silent or p ractice-piano. W'e can also partly withdraw the hammer-arrest and practice on the piano producing only a slight sound by making the hammers strike the strings slightly.

The bracket-ironsI and J are slotted so that they can be raised and lowered on the standards E by loosening the set-screw, L, by which they are attached to the upper ends of the standardsEaud held rigidlyin place at any desired point of elevation to raise and lower the slide-bar N in front of the hammers. To enable this adjustment of the slide-bar N which is used as a hammer-arrest, we have constructed the standards E with a recess M to admit of the hammer arrester slide-bar N to pro ect sufficiently far forward in front of the hammer stems to serve its purpose and also to admit of its adj ustment vertically, as above specified.

Having fully described the construction and operation of our invention, what we claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a piano, a hammer-arrest supported on guide-ways on which it slides; a mechanism by which it is held firmly at any point on the guide-ways; and hammers having such relation to the hammer arrest as to be arrested in their stroke thereby, substantially as shown and described.

2. In a piano, a hammer arrest; an adjustable bracket which supports the hammer-arrest and in which it slides; the standards of the piano to which the brackets are attached; and hammers which the hammer-arrest may be adjusted to arrest, substantially as specified.

3. In a piano, the sliding hammer-arrest having diagonal slots; bracket irons supporting said hammer-arrest, provided with pins or upturned flanges operating in said slots in the hammer-arrest to move it forward and hold it firmly at any desired position; and mechanisms connected with the pedal of the piano by which said slide-bar is brought into the position desired by the operator.

4. In a piano in combination with the ordinary strings and hammers, flexible tongues carried by an adjustable bar, the lower end of said tongue being folded upon itself and inclosing a hard core, the leather tongue contacting with the strings and with the the hammers on opposite sides of the core respectively when interposed between them, substantially as specified.

5. In a piano in combination with the ordinary strings and hammers, flexible tongues carried by an adjustable tongue bar, the lower end of said tongue being folded upon itself and inclosiug a hard hollow core, the leather tongue contacting with the strings and with the hammers respectively on opposite sides of the core when interposed between them, substantially as specified.

MARTIN H. MCCIIESNEY. JOS. G. KUNZE. Witnesses:

ALOYSIA IIELMICH, ALLAN A. MURRAY. 

